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The Formation and Early Development of the Church of God in Christ

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The Formation and Early Development of the Church of God in Christ THE INTERDENOMINATIONAL THEOLOGICAL CENTER THE FORMATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST BY OLIVER J. HANEY, JR. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Divinity degree Dr. Thomas J. Pugh, Advisor Date, April 12, 1969 TABLE OP CONTENTS Page No. 1. Introduction 11. The Founding Fathers 111. Events Incidental in the Beginning of the Church of God in Christ 10 IV. The Formation of the Church of God in Christ 14 V. The Emerging Church of God in Christ 23 VI. Summary and Conclusion 27 Vll. Bibliography Dedication To my wife, LaVerne, for her devotion and assistance during my Seminary career. - f^.i,i%S, Preface The Church of God in Christ was organized in the latter 1880's. Since that time, it has grown tremendously. It has also made an outstanding contribution to the development of a sense of moral duty and spiritual responsibility in the people of the world, and it takes its place among other Protestant denominations of the world. Even though the above cannot be denied, I find it astonishing and disappointing that the truth about the Church of God in Christ as to it's historical beginning, practices and its doctrines are actually known by so few. Therefore, I feel it necessary for me to make known the history of the Church of God in Christ, and have assumed that task in the essay. It is hoped that many of the misunderstandings about the Church can be made clear. It is also my aim that those who do not know about the Church,may through this essay become ac quainted with it, and that those who are already familiar with it, may be further enlightened. Acknowledgement The task of acquiring material about the history of the Church of God in Christ is a very difficult one. This is due to the fact that the Church has not been consistent in keeping historical re cords. The records that are available are widely scattered among members of the Church, and in several books pertaining to the life of the Church that have been written by others. However, the efforts to produce this essay were possible because so many people helped. I want to make special mention of my friend, Elder Charles E. Blake, Co-pastor of the Greater Jackson Memorial Church of God in Christ, San Diego, California, who has been especially helpful in gathering data for this essay, Dr. Thomas J. Pugh who served as my advisor during my Seminary career at I. T. C., and whose helpful suggestions after careful readings of the manuscript made the essay possible, Dr. Hugh M. lansen, professor of Church History, and Dr. Ralph L. Williamson, professor of Church and Society, who assisted in the compilation of materials for this essay. I. Introduction The purpose of this essay is to provide a concise and comprehen sive history of the formative years of the Church of God in Christ. In this essay the formative years are considered to be between 1894, when its roots were planted within the minds and hearts of men, and 1934 when the church had fully developed and had begun to spread rap idly around the world. It is the primary intention of the writer to compile historical data from within the Church (i.e.) minutes, his torical documents, pamphlets, etc., as well as other historical in formation. It is hoped that through these efforts, the writer will be able to present a comprehensive early history of the Church of God in Christ. In order to make the presentation orderly and clear, the essay is divided under four main headings, namely: The Founding Fathers, Events Incidental in the Beginning of the Church, the Formation of the Church of God in Christ and the Emerging Church of God in Christ, 1906, 1934. This essay is limited to the first forty years of the develop ment of the Church of God in Christ, because a general history of the Church from its formative years to the present necessitates a much broader scope of investigation than is intended for this essay. It is the sincere desire of the writer that this essay will be beneficial to the Interdenominational Theological Center Family, to the members of the Church of God in Christ, and to all who read it. II. THE FOUNDING FATHERS The history of the Church of God in Christ can be traced back to the year of 1894. It had it's beginning in the southern part of the United States. It's earliest roots are found to have originated in the tri-state area of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In the later 1800s the southern nart of the United States was heavily dom inated by the southern Baptist denomination. It was from this body that the roots of the Church of God in Christ emerged. 1 In the year of 1894, Reverend Charles Price Jones was the pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. He was motivated by the conditions of his Church to search the scriptures more diligently. He believed that God required everyone to live a sinless life, and he sought to affirm his belief through the use of the scriptures. This was not in harmony with the teachings of the traditional Baptist Churches. Through searching the scriptures, he became dissatisfied with his tra ditional Baptist religion. He saw the traditional Baptist faith and beliefs as a body of teachings that brought forth no visible fruits. He says, "I was not satisfied with a faith that brought no fruits, or else of so poor a quality spiritually and a religion that none of the signs, spoken in the scriptures followed Mark 16:14-18, Hebrews 2: 2 1-11." Hereafter, Reverend Charles Price Jones will be identified as Rev. Mr. Jones- 2 Charles H. Pleas, Fifty Years Achievement, (City Unknown: by the Author, Date Unknown), p. 1. - 1 - It ■ is the opinion of the writer that Rev. Mr. Jones sought vis ible physical expressions of religion. He seemed to have been of the opinion that unless divine healing and the speaking in unknown tongues took place among the adherents, it was not true religion. If this is the case, and we assume that it is, his opinion seem to have been based on a literal interpretation of the New Testament. He could not perceive of his then present religion as Biblical because he could not see the signs mentioned in Mark 16sl4-18;and Hebrews 2:1-11 working visibly in the Church. The particular signs mentioned are healing the sick, cast ing out devils, speaking in unknown tongues, and sanctification. Rev. Mr. Jones was of the opinion that these were the signs that should and necessarily ought to be in the believer. If these signs were not pre sent, the particular faith or denomination was not considered as Bib lical. Rev. Mr. Jones began to preach these doctrines and concepts in the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama, and in the Mount Helm Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi- He preached basically a doc trine of holiness, sanctification, purity, sinless lives, and the signs of speaking in unknown tongues as visible evidences of conversion- He sought to|make people perfect and the above ingredients were necessary evidences to show an adherent that the new faith was on the right road. All of the above mentioned concepts were interpreted in a way that was different from the traditional Baptist interpretation. How ever, with a working knowledge of such he continued to preach upon these new emphases in the Mount Helm Baptist Church. Nevertheless, he preached doctrines such as sinless lives, speaking in unknown tongues, etc. that were contrary to traditional Baptist polity from his pulpit. In the year of 1895, Rev. Mr. Jones was joined by other Baptist ministers. These ministers believed as he did about scriptural in terpretations. So, consequently, the movement spreaded to other Bap tist Churches. These churches were located in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Later he was joined by, the Reverend Misters F. S. Sherrill, A. j. Bradley, Kelley Bucks, W. s. Plesant and a young fiery evangelist, C. H, Mason. These men were all members of the General Baptist Association. This association was being held in the Mount Helm Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. At this time, Rev. Mr. Jones was still the pastor of the church. Not only were they per mitted to proclaim their interpretations of the scriptures, but it is here that the first booklets on Pentecostalism were distributed. Here, Rev, Mr. Jones attests to this fact. He says; At this association, we sold our first book let, a Treatise on the 12th chapter, of, First. Corinthians, under the title, The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Churches. We also began about the same time to publish Truth.3 The later publication, Truth was a pamphlet that contained some of the basic teachings of pentecostalism. This pamphlet was intended to inform the masses of the doctrines that these Pentecostal preachers were advocating. The weeks following these publications, many new converts were added to the Church, These pamphlets were, without a doubt aids to the successful attempts of the newly motivated preachers to reach the masses and win converts- Ibid., p. 2. ■.!".».«•■ Following this Association, Rev. Mr. Jones states that, The Holy Spirit bade me call a Holiness Convention. Said I, "When Lord?" "The sixth of June", said He. "What day will that be Lord?" I asked. "Sunday", said He. Later when the Almanac for 1897 came out, I found that it was Sunday.
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